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Video: Online hit list targeting teens

Closed captioning of: Online hit list targeting teens

>>>someone made a
hit list
and put it on
facebook
, and is actually killing the teenagers on the list. sending them through these
facebook
messages and msn messages. three teenagers in columbia are
already dead
. terrifying, as you might imagine, for their families. and now some teenagers are actually fleeing the country. constantino is with the
daily beast
and a contributor for msnbc. what have you been table to learn about this
hit list
?

>>most of the teenagers in this town have blocked people who are not their friends from sending them messages through
facebook
. those that can still receive messages, some of them got back to me saying, i don't want to talk. i don't want to stick my nose in where it doesn't belong, because that i might get killed.

>>so explain what happened. was there any indication what the motive was behind the messages that contained the
hit list
or behind the killings of the three people that have already happened?

>>well, what's happening, and it's actually been going on for a few months, it started with just flyers being distributed. like, on the street. these criminal gangs are just trying to intimidate the population, so that they can control and have basically ruled that whole part of the country.

>>and how many names were on the list?

>>with all the lists combined, there's like 90 names now.

>>and is there anything that really sets these 90 people apart? are they part of the a gang? is there any sort of activity that's happening in this town, that would indicate why there might be such animosity?

>>that's what's sort of like boggles the mind. these are good kids, according to their teachers. they are just good students,
high school
students. i mean --

>>the people who have already been murdered, they're 16, 17, and 19 years old. where does the investigation stand into their deaths?

>>the
central government
has sent agents to investigate. they say they have four arrests, but there's no clear --

>>and who's investigating -- i mean, is
facebook
cooperating? and who's investigating at this point?

>>at this point, it's only the columbian police.
local police
and federal colombian investigators.

Three Colombian teens were murdered in that country after death threats against them and 66 others were posted on Facebook, according to news reports from Colombia.

The victims, ages 15, 16 and 17, were killed by "hitmen" on a road outside the town of Puerto Asis, Putumayo in southern Colombia, according to Colombia Reports, an English-language news organization based in Medellín.

Volmar Perez, Colombia's ombudsman, who deals with civil and human rights, told the news agency that the murders "coincide with ... the publication of a (Facebook) list with the names and aliases of 69 teenagers where (it) is said that they have three days to leave Puerto Asis and if not, be killed."

The ombudsman condemned "the threats, intimidation and violent deaths of teenagers" on Facebook, Colombia Reports said, and is seeking an investigation. "It is unclear whether the murders are carried out by leftist guerrilla group FARC or drug cartel 'Los Rastrojos,' both highly active in the southern department," the news agency said.

Perez said that local authorities "initially thought the list was a joke and only called for a security council meeting when a second and similar list appeared" on Facebook.